


Game Day

by Silverkleptofox



Series: Letters from Camp [5]
Category: Percy Jackson and related titles
Genre: Angst, Arcade, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attacks, nico needs a trigger warning, solangelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 09:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9883526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverkleptofox/pseuds/Silverkleptofox
Summary: Will planned the perfect date, but he missed one little detail and it causes everything to go wrong.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by a post written by angel-of-death-diangelo on tumblr, and is written with their permission.

Will was undeniably excited. He had been planning this day for weeks, collecting quarters from the snack machine and various places around camp. It was his turn to go to the city to run errands this weekend, and he was going to surprise his boyfriend.

His hopeless nerd of a boyfriend. 

Will had picked up on Nico's secret obsession with all things geeky; he knew about Nico's card collection, his midnight jaunts to the Big House to play the old Playstayion 2 on sleepless nights, his knack for statistics and strategy.

Nico was a closet geek, a natural gamer, and to this day a Mythomagic dork. Where better to take a kid who had been locked away in a hotel during the golden age of video games than to a classic arcade? The boy probably didn't even know what Atari was- he had completely missed the seventies, eighties, and nineties doing whatever-it-is people do for two months in a _hotel,_ ordering room service maybe? 

Nico was going to absolutely love it. 

Will counted out his stash of quarters before heading out to the woods where Nico usually arrived on Saturday mornings. 

\------

Nico stepped out of the shadows of the trees on the northern edge of the camp forest with a groan. He rolled his shoulders to try and work out the crick in his neck- paperwork was a killer and the underworld had heaps of it. Being an official Judge of the underworld as well as the King of Ghosts was not an easy job. 

Still, it was Saturday, and that meant he was free to do as he wished... and Nico wished to see his annoying boyfriend. There he was now, jogging up through the fallen leaves like a golden retriever. Nico suppressed his grin and picked his way down the hill with his hands in his pockets. 

"Hey." He said cooly to the blonde. 

"Hey yourself." Will beamed in reply, taking Nico's arm in his hand before pulling him into a brief hug. Nico stepped in and reveled in the warmth and scent of _Will_ before squirming away. 

"You seem more excited than usual." Nico looked his boyfriend up and down. "What's going on?"

Will quirked an eyebrow. "It's field trip day." He smirked. Nico sighed dramatically and turned to head back to the shadows. "No no no!" Will said quickly. "You and I have our own detail. Just us, in downtown New York. Special permission from Chiron. I have _plans,_ Nico, don't leave." 

The son of Hades rolled his eyes and tilted his head to look back at Will. 

"... okay fine." 

Will smiled and took Nico's hand. He knew Nico wouldn't leave him so soon, they had both been waiting so patiently for the weekend, but Will also knew that his boyfriend was a hopeless drama king and was obliged to play along. They made their way down to the edge of camp where Argus was waiting with the van to take them and the rest of the campers that were headed out to the city. 

After an hour and a half of traffic and ignoring the chatter of his fellow campers, Nico was the first out of the old white GMC and onto the busy sidewalks of Manhattan right in front of the Empire State Building. Will was right behind him, hopping out of the vehicle with far too much enthusiasm. 

"You know I could have brought us here myself," Nico grumbled as Will fell into step beside him, "...or called Jules-Albert." 

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Will shrugged. "Besides, you just came from the underworld. _Live_ a little, Lord of Darkness."

"Ha ha." Nico rolled his eyes at Will's pun. "Where are you taking me anyway?"

The blond grinned. "You'll see! Actually, no you won't, because that will spoil the surprise. Close your eyes, I'll take you there." 

Nico looked at Will flatly, but did as instructed. He felt an arm link with his and then they were walking down 5th Avenue. Nico lost count of the steps and turns and how many times someone bumped into him in the crowded city. It was disconcerting, being surrounded by so many people and not being in control, but Nico could handle it. Will was chattering on about nothing of particular interest- this shop sells the best sweets, this one used to be a Border's, etc. Nico was too focused on keeping his footing to really pay attention. 

Finally, after what felt like seven blocks, judging by how many times Will had paused to look both ways, they stopped. 

"Okay now cover your ears." Will said.

" _What!?_? Nico was not fond of the idea of losing his senses completely. "Why?"

"Because the sound will give it away."

Nico shot his boyfriend a look. Rather, he would have if his eyes had been open, but Will could infer from the gesture what Nico meant. Will silently committed the odd sight before him to memory- a surly emo kid glaring at his boyfriend with his eyes closed.

"You're lucky I trust you." Nico muttered before plugging his ears. He felt Will's hands on his shoulders gently guiding him forward, and he walked. The air grew cooler and he could faintly hear a commotion around him, something familiar. 

They stopped. 

Will put his hands over Nico's closed eyes and spoke near his ear, where he could still hear.

"One, two, three!" 

Nico gasped.

It hit him all at once- the sight of rows and rows of arcade games glowing and blinking and flashing in the semi darkness, the sound of them clinking and clanking and ticking and beeping overwhelming him. He was back. How did he get back here? He had to get out, _now_ , but he couldn't move. His legs wouldn't _move_.

Nico screwed his eyes shut to escape the bright lights and colors. He couldn't be back there, not again. It was just a dream, just another nightmare. 

He couldn't catch his breath. He couldn't escape. The sound of hundreds of arcade games was deafening, blocking out every other stimulus. It wasn't a dream, this was real. He was really back there. How much time had he lost?

He had to get out. 

Nico covered his ears and fled to the only place he could reach- the shadows. 

Will felt more than saw his boyfriend freeze up, and in the blink of an eye he saw the wispy tendrils of darkness curl up from where their shadows met on the ground.

A thousand thoughts went through Will's mind at once- did Nico have the strength to travel so soon after this morning? Where was he going? Why was this happening? Would he end up exhausted and alone? But none of those thoughts mattered. Will impulsively reached for Nico's hand and closed his eyes as they both descended into darkness.

It was dark, and freezing cold, like there was neither heat nor light. They were moving quickly, and Will could hear voices around them increase and decrease in pitch as they passed. Nico's hand was warm in his and he held on tighter, knowing better than to open his eyes. He held his breath until just the right moment, when light bloomed from beyond his eyelids and he gasped for air in the warmth of the...

... back entrance of the Times Square McDonald's? 

Why had Nico taken them here? Never mind that, Nico was gasping for air on all fours on the concrete. He instinctively went into medical mode.

"Nico! Nico talk to me, what's wrong? Breathe, Neeks. In and out, come on..." he spoke insistently as he rubbed firm circles on Nico's shoulders. Nico's eyes were wide as he glanced back and forth, scanning the area as if he didn't know where he was. 

Will maneuvered to sit behind him and grabbed below his waist. "Come on, sit up. You can do that for me, right?" He pulled gently until Nico was sprawled in his lap, legs ungainly and back pressed against his chest. Will held him tightly and Nico dug his fingers into Will's arm like he was holding on to a lifeline. 

Still breathing rapidly, Nico began to tremble. Will wasn't sure if it was panic or exhaustion, but it needed to stop. He buried his face in the crook of Nico's neck and murmured encouragements while gently running his thumb over Nico's sternum. 

"It's okay, it's okay. Calm down, you're safe. You're safe Nico. I don't know what spooked you but you're safe. Talk to me, I'm right here. Shhhhh you're okay. I'm just going to keep talking until you calm down." He said softly, his tone even. "We're in New York, you've brought us behind a McDonald's. It's spring, and it's Saturday. It's about 10 in the morning and we just came from camp."

Suddenly, Nico gasped, small and soft. If Will hadn't been wrapped around him, he wouldn't have noticed it. 

"Nico?"

The son of Hades tensed, aware. "Where did you say we were?" He asked softly.

"New York City."

"Thank the gods." Nico slumped forward, resting his face in his hands. Will extracted himself from the leg pile and moved so he could see his boyfriend's face. 

Nico's eyes were screwed shut between his fingers, his breath coming in ever-slower shuddering gasps as he calmed down. 

"I'm sorry..." Nico sputtered. "You were so excited and I..."

"No, no," Will soothed, "nothing to be sorry for, things happen. But... could you tell me what set it off? Not if you don't want to of course, I just feel like... like I caused this somehow, and I don't ever want to hurt you, or..." 

"The casino." Nico said, cutting off Will's rambling. "It was just a shock, and I thought... I was back there, in the casino." 

Will's hand paused on Nico's back, his eyebrows knit in confusion. "Casino? What casino?"

Nico looked at him like he had just asked who the god of the sun was. 

"The Lotus." He replied flatly.

"The Lotus hotel?"

"The Lotus hotel _and casino._ " Nico clarified.

"Oh." Will whispered as the realization set it. _Casino_. Where there were thousands of illuminated screens and flashing lights and noises and Nico had been trapped there for over seventy years and Will had taken him right back into that environment and _ph gods_ he had led him there blindly and Nico had _trusted_ him and "Oh gods Nico I'm so sorry, I had no idea! I can't believe I..."

Suddenly there was a cold hand on his cheek, breaking Will from his thoughts. He brought his own warmer hand up to hold it in place, and looked into Nico's red-rimmed eyes.

"Solace." He said, blinking. "Let's just go back."

"What?" Will asked, completely surprised. 

Nico sighed, his hands still shaking slightly. "I know what you're thinking. Or rather, over-thinking. I _know_ you. You think everything is your fault and this all could have berm avoided if you had just done something different, but it's not, Will. It's not your fault. You planned a fun date that you thought I would love because I'm a total dork, and I'm not going to let one little episode stop that. If I let every bad memory stop me from living, I would never do _anything._ " he paused, and his hand stilled. "I'm fine, it's over with. It happened, and it's over now. So let's go." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah. You were right- I _do_ love arcades games. I kinda miss them, sometimes. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, DDR..."

"You played DDR? But that came out in the 90's!"

"... it seemed like a new game every day to me." Nico shrugged, "but that's beside the point. I could _cream_ you at DDR, Solace. I just... I need a minute, you know? I haven't tried this since... since I was twelve." He paused to take a shuddering breath. 

Will pulled Nico's hand into his lap and stroked his knuckles. "Do you think you can handle it?" 

Nico tightened his fingers. "Yeah, I think so. I just... I need to know it's coming. It was just so sudden, and I thought I was back there, and I could almost _feel_ time slipping by without me, and I could see everyone growing old and dying while I stayed there..."

He could feel Will's fingers on his jawline, turning his face to meet Will's. His blue eyes were so expressive, Nico could read everything he was feeling. Guilt, concern, uncertainty. The last thing he wanted to do was see those eyes downcast, especially over _him_. 

Nico stood and brushed the dust off of his black jeans. 

"Come on," He said as he held a hand out to the blond. "We've got a date."

\--------

They had to walk back to Fifth Avenue, as under no circumstances was Will letting Nico shadow-travel three times in one day. Two was bad enough, and Will had insisted that he eat something before going anywhere.

Luckily they were right behind a McDonald's. 

It took them about an hour to walk back, but it was an hour well-spent. Nico and Will discussed the various games he had played in what he thought was a two-month stay in Las Vegas: which ones his favorites, how many he had played. 

Will was a bit surprised to learn that not only was Nico well-versed in arcade games, he had played literally every single one that had been released between 1940 and 1999.

"You're even more of a dork than I thought." Will chuckled as they crossed the street to the final block. 

Nico shrugged. "There wasn't much else to do. I used to play poker and blackjack before they brought in Pong, they wouldn't let the kids play the slot machines."

"But they would let you play cards?" Will asked with mock I incredulity. 

Nico rolled his eyes. "I didn't get it either." 

Then, they were there. The glittering neon lights of the arcade facade flashing innocuously behind glass windows, the faint noise coming from within. 

Nico took a deep breath and reached for Will's hand. 

"You ok?" Will asked quietly.

Nico nodded.

He stepped over the threshold, and back over. 

He looked at the clock. 

No extra time had passed. 

Will glanced at him, concerned. 

Nico smiled. "Come in Solace, I'm going to kick your ass at Dance Dance Revolution."

Will smirked in reply. "Oh it is _on,_ Lord of Darkness. You think you can defeat the son of the god of music?"

"Yeah, when that son had two left feet, I think I can."

"You little..!"

They bickered amicably all the way to the back of the arcade, where the scratched and much-abused light-up dance floor awaited them.


End file.
